Digital Beat

Complying with New York’s Affordable Broadband Act

In 2021, New York State enacted the Affordable Broadband Act (ABA). The law requires large internet service providers (ISPs)—those with over 20,000 subscribers—to offer one of two affordable monthly service plans for qualifying customers. Providers can choose between a $ 15-per-month plan with download speeds of 25 Mbps and a $ 20-per-month plan with download speeds of 200 Mbps.

Customers are eligible if they participate in SNAP, Medicaid, or if their annual incomes are below 185 percent of the federal poverty level (i.e., less than $60k annually for a family of four).

Legal Challenges

After the law was enacted, ISPs in New York attempted to block the ABA. Soon after the law was passed, broadband industry groups—led by the New York State Telecommunications Association (NYSTA)—sued New York State, alleging that the law constitutes illegal rate regulation as defined by the federal Communications Act of 1934. A federal judge in New York blocked implementation of the ABA in 2021, siding with the industry groups.

However, in the Spring of 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the decision, allowing the law to take effect in January 2025. The Supreme Court declined to weigh in on the case on two occasions, upholding the Second Circuit’s rationale that “a federal agency cannot exclude states from regulating in an area where the agency itself lacks regulatory authority.”

ISP Actions to Date

To enroll in an ABA low-cost plan, eligible customers must demonstrate to their chosen ISP that they qualify. This process varies from provider to provider as the ABA did not mandate a uniform verification process.

New York State’s ConnectAll Office recommends that eligible households look at local ISPs’ websites and search for terms like “low cost,” “reduced cost,” or “Affordable Broadband Act.” The New York Broadband Map also allows residents to see which providers offering service to their address offer a low-cost plan. Notably, to find ABA low-cost plans on most ISPs websites, eligible consumers need to have prior knowledge of the law, as the pages for ABA low-cost plans are often separate from pages for regular retail service.

Briefly, here is how some of New York’s major ISPs are complying with the law:

Comcast Xfinity’s pre-existing Internet Essentials program meets the requirements of the ABA. The plan offers download speeds up to 75 Mbps for $14.95 per month. Qualified customers can apply on Comcast’s website. Specific information about Comcast's compliance with the ABA is detailed in a support article.
Frontier’s low-cost plan offers symmetrical speeds of 200 Mbps for $19.99 per month. Its next cheapest plan provides symmetrical speeds of 500 Mbps for around $50 per month. Qualified customers can apply through a form on the provider’s website.
Optimum’s $15 per month Advantage Internet program meets ABA requirements; however, the provider’s website does not specifically mention the ABA.
Spectrum’s Internet Assist plan is, in most service areas, $25 per month for download speeds of 50 Mbps, but is $15 per month in New York State to comply with the ABA.
Starlink’s Residential Lite plan costs $80 per month for download speeds ranging from 45 to 130 Mbps. To comply with ABA standards, Starlink offers its Residential Lite plan at $15 per month, but with download speeds capped at 25 Mbps. Customers eligible for the ABA plan must apply by filing a support ticket. Information on how to apply is included in an article in the “privacy & legal” section of the website; however, the support page that the article directs applicants to is broken.
Starry, the fixed-wireless service provider being acquired by Verizon, lists its ABA plan information in a support article. Starry’s plan offers symmetrical speeds of 30 Mbps upload and download for $15 per month. To check eligibility, customers must email Starry’s support team.
T-Mobile’s ABA low-cost plan is $15 per month for the company’s 5G home internet service. The plan has a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps and a 50GB per month data cap. Qualified customers must complete a verification form, wait for an approval code, and then chat with a customer service agent on the T-Mobile website.
Verizon has an existing low-income discount called Verizon Forward. To meet ABA requirements, the program’s eligibility requirements were expanded for New York State customers. The plan is $20 per month with a download speed of 200 Mbps. Qualified customers can apply through Verizon’s website.

Because the ABA is aimed at regulating the largest providers, many rural providers are exempt from providing a low-cost plan. However, some regional providers are large enough to be within the law’s scope. Here’s how customers can apply for some of their plans:

Point Broadband, a fiber provider that often partners with rural utilities to deliver services, offers a dedicated email address and online form for qualified customers to request its $ 15-per-month plan. Point Broadband is available in New York’s Finger Lakes region.
Greenlight Networks—a fiber provider serving Binghamton, Buffalo, and Rochester—offers an online form for customers to provide ABA qualification information. Unlike most of the large ISPs, the information is easily accessible from the provider's homepage.

Satellite Providers Granted Exemptions from the ABA

Providers that have fewer than 20,000 subscribers and the New York Public Services Commission (PSC) deems that adherence to the ABA requirements would cause “unreasonable or unsustainable financial impact” can receive an exemption from the law.¹

The three major satellite providers offering service in New York—Hughesnet, Viasat, and Starlink—all have requested exemptions from the requirements of the ABA. Satellite providers are often the only option available for the most rural locations in the country, but they provide service at a considerably higher monthly rate than other technologies.

Despite providing plan information on its website, Starlink seems to be exempt from the ABA for the time being. The company’s exemption request certifies that it is serving fewer than 20,000 locations in the state and would suffer an 87.5 percent loss in revenue if subscribers switch to a low-cost plan. However, Starlink was recently provisionally awarded Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding to deliver service to nearly 14,000 locations in New York State, increasing the likelihood that the company may exceed 20,000 subscribers at some point.

Affordability Challenges Remain in New York

Because enrollment in ABA low-cost plans varies by ISP, consumers can find it challenging to find information on the enrollment process. New York State is taking two steps that may address this issue:

The state committed over $5 million to continue New York's digital equity grantmaking under its ConnectALL Digital Equity Program. Applicants can use grant funds to “Increase access to affordable broadband subscriptions.”
The ABA mandates that, by November 15, 2025 (and annually thereafter), ISPs must provide the PSC with a description of their verification processes for qualified customers, and a description of their marketing efforts to promote their low-cost plan.

Arielle Roth, Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), recently said that "any state receiving BEAD funds must exempt BEAD providers throughout their state footprint, from broadband-specific economic regulations, such as price regulation and net neutrality." This poses an ultimatum for New York State: forfeit all BEAD funding or disregard the ABA for all providers who receive BEAD funding for the next decade.

Roth’s comments mean that any ISP in New York State that deploys a BEAD-funded network would be exempt from the requirements of the ABA for its entire service area in the state, not just BEAD-funded areas. The exemption would last for the BEAD Program’s entire 10-year period of performance. This poses an ultimatum for the state: forfeit all BEAD funding or disregard the ABA for all providers who receive BEAD funding for the next decade.

Providers in New York State are currently complying with the requirements of the ABA, but the future of affordability in the state rests heavily on NTIA's recent changes to the BEAD Program. If implemented, millions of households in New York will lack an affordable option for quality internet access.

Notes:

ABA exemption filings can be accessed here.

Reid Sharkey is a Community Broadband Specialist & Research Associate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. He completed a year of Americorps service in 2023 which was his introduction to working in broadband and digital equity policy. Sharkey first worked with the Benton Institute during his service term. He assisted in administering the Benton Institute's Accelerate community engagement and broadband infrastructure planning program in Tennessee, where he was serving as an American Connection Corps Fellow at the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Reid received a Masters of Public Policy from George Mason University in 2022.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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